Cats are known for their propensity for cat staring, whether it be at you, the world outside a window, the wall, or even nothing at all. Cats are inquisitive observers, and this is an explanation of why they stare.
The eyes of cats are one of their most distinctive traits. These visual characteristics contribute to their propensity for staring and may make them the most Instagrammable species, for the following reasons:
Cats’ eyes are large in comparison to the rest of their bodies.
Human eyes blink 15 to 20 times per minute, compared to around twice per minute for cats.
The vision of a cat is not like ours. Cats are farsighted compared to people. The normal human vision is 20/20. This means that when our visual acuity is tested, we must see the same level of detail at 20 feet as the average person does at that distance. The visual acuity of cats ranges from 20/100 to 20/200. This implies that a cat can only see clearly from a distance of 20 feet what a typical human can see clearly from a distance of 100 to 200 feet. A cat sees blurriness where we see clarity from 100 feet away.
They make up for their lack of optical acuity with other benefits.
They can see in one-sixth the light that we need to see, because to the greater number of rods in their retinas.
Additionally, compared to humans, cats have a broader range of vision at 200 degrees. Cats are equipped to detect even the smallest insect or dust particle moving near up. Cats are more likely to fixate on something we would not see because of their keen peripheral vision.
Cats use human signals to gather information because they have adapted to human routines. Cats are able to follow a person’s gaze and are also aware of it.
Cat Staring: It Want To Hear Everything
Why do cats seem to stare at nothing or a wall? In reality, a lot happens behind walls. The numerous electrical and plumbing tubes that are hidden behind walls, as well as any insects and other animals that may have made their homes there, would be revealed if walls could communicate.
Have you ever observed how cats can predict who will be at the door before you do? The hearing of cats is far more acute than ours. Their ears’ unique structure and additional muscles allow them to focus and magnify sounds. The smallest sounds, such as leaves rustling and creatures scurrying, as well as people walking and conversing outdoors, are all picked up by cats inside our walls and outside of them.
Cat Staring: Hunting
Cats are inquisitive and learn by observing their surroundings. Animal behaviorist Melissa R. Shyan-Norwalt found that indoor cats typically spend up to five hours per day gazing out of a window in her 2005 study “Caregiver Perceptions of What Indoor Cats Do “For Fun,” published in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science.
When hunting, outdoor cats display the same astounding patience. If you’ve ever seen an outside cat hunt, you’ve probably been in awe of how instinctively they can remain still and look at something until the right moment comes along when they can pounce.
Cat Staring: Love
You may have observed that many wild species do not comply when you try to make eye contact with them in a zoo. Eye contact can be threatening or challenging to some animals. Many animals take a person’s glare as an indication of hostility.
Only a domestic companion animal would look directly into a human’s eyes. It follows that it is not surprising that this characteristic of the human-animal interaction caught the attention of researchers.
Researchers at Azabu University in Kanagawa, Japan’s Laboratory of Human-Animal Interaction and Reciprocity reviewed a number of studies and came to the conclusion that while dogs are pack animals and cats are solitary hunters, today’s relationships between the two species are similar. Cats and dogs both have adapted to human routines and use cues from people to get information. Cats are aware of and even track human gaze.
In their article “The Gaze Communications Between Dogs/Cats and Humans: Recent Research Review and Future Directions,” which was published in Frontiers in Psychology in 2020, the researchers speculated that cats “may in the future acquire more dog-like abilities, such as more consistent and expressive gaze.”
According to the studies they looked at, “dogs and cats have their own adaptive communications that may have served as the basis for their beneficial coexistence with humans.”
Cats don’t gaze at people they are afraid of or don’t like. Therefore, when your cats give you a kind or trusting look, interpret it as such.
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